Is Vortex worth it?

[Deleted67195711User]

I still use NMM. Just for the simplicity. I get mods from all over the map, Beth.net, Nexus, Steam, and other content creators websites. I can manage them all with NMM, and that meets my needs.

 

EVERY time i have attempted to use Vortex I have had issues. I gave up after the third attempt.

 

NMM is still supported, and the download site is here: https://github.com/Nexus-Mods/Nexus-Mod-Manager/releases.

 

And with that, I am out of this one.

[JimmyRJump]

 

 

Vortex is becoming like modern day Nero. Too much of everything and not good at anything.

While I have no opinion on Nero Burning ROM, I can say that Vortex is good at everything I've asked it to do, including installing, uninstalling, updating, load order management, file conflict resolution, and much more. I've modded games for at least twelve years, and Vortex for me is the best mod manager of the many I've used over that period.

 

Well, here we are. Opposite opinions. What do you think of a duel at dawn?

 

Must add I'm slowly changing my opinion about Vortex. Been using it to mod a new Install of Skyrim SE and while Vortex seems much more prone to choke on downloads while the servers are jittery (NMM doesn't seem to care much, or at least, has less trouble than Vortex downloading from servers that are difficult to reach) I must say it does a nice job once you get the hang of it. Incorporating things like FNIS to work from inside Vortex are a step in the right direction. Hey, we might get to have breakfast together in an amicable fashion if this continues ;)

[AugustaCalidia]

@JimmyRJump

 

How about a handshake at dawn and then breakfast together? Belgian waffles?

 

You are one of the several site members whose comments and wisdom I have most appreciated over the past several years. I would be proud to shake your hand.

[JimmyRJump]

@JimmyRJump

 

How about a handshake at dawn and then breakfast together? Belgian waffles?

 

You are one of the several site members whose comments and wisdom I have most appreciated over the past several years. I would be proud to shake your hand.

Hey, it's not because I started cultivating a long grey beard and live in a shack atop the hill folks should start treating me as some kind of a guroo... I'm too prone to human error and often too quick to jump to conclusion to be even tending to petunias, let alone a flock. But if you're willing to inherit some debts, I'll gladly put you in my will ;)

[HadToRegister]

The concept could be made clearer upfront, because when I first started using Vortex (Coming from NMM), the concept of being able to 'sort' BSA, BA2, Textures and Meshes was something I had no concept of past following a guide that said "Make sure to install Mod B BEFORE mods A and C, and when asked, answer OVERWRITE ALL, then install Mod A, and tell NMM to overwrite ALL, then Install Mod B, and tell NMM to overwrite ALL", and because if that, I honestly thought that sorting the ESPs (Plugins), was what made one Mesh or Texture overwrite another. (physically)

So, of course, I tried to force the ESPS to follow my load order instead, and just completely ended up fighting with Vortex, by assigning things to the wrong groups, and making rules that would go against the grouping so I'd end up with a ton of Cyclic References etc.

Once I realized that 95% of the IMPORTANT stuff is done on the MOD TAB, instead of the PLUGINS TAB, I found it much easier to allow Vortex to worry about the Plugins, while I focused on the MODS (Textures/Meshes) etc., and for the first time in YEARS, I actually used some of the same mods I used to use, and had them actually show up properly in the game with the proper meshes and textures.
Before I just used to randomly install mods with NMM, randomly overwrite what I thought was correct, and randomly sort my plugins.

I'll never go back to that again.

[JimmyRJump]

Well, with NMM you at least knew what wanted to overwrite what. The specific mesh or texture was mentioned in the overwrite pop-up and you had the choice to overwrite or not. Now you get a warning and then a menu when hitting 'show' that gets messier as you install mods because a lot of the previous and meanwhile solved 'conflicts' keep showing for no good reason. And there's bound to be errors in loading with the often wrong suggestion Vortex makes. Inexperienced modders , which most still are, even myself to some degree, will surely folllow Vortex' suggestion of 'before' or 'after' and then end up in the fora with complaints this or that mod doesn't fully work or something doesn't show up despite having "tried everything"...

 

And folks suggesting (for NMM) to use the "yes to all" option when overwriting files is the worst advice to give and to follow. Granted, it can take a while when there's mods that overwrite more than a hundred files like armor mods and/or weapon mods, but when starting to know your mods you know what to choose and when to choose it in NMM. Vortex simplifies things while at the same time making it more complex. Having mods co-exist instead of overwriting one-another's files is a good thing at first sight, but I'm not so sure if it's advantageous for the game you're modding. There's a chance to end-up with a mod manager that solves conflicts but a game that cannot handle the solutions. Because in the end, it's still the game that has to load and show all the content.

 

The more I use Vortex, the more I'm thinking that the developers aren't the end users. Just like writers of manuals aren't the folk who use the product they're writing a manual for or like computer case developers aren't the ones using the PC case.

[HadToRegister]

Well, with NMM you at least knew what wanted to overwrite what. The specific mesh or texture was mentioned in the overwrite pop-up and you had the choice to overwrite or not. Now you get a warning and then a menu when hitting 'show' that gets messier as you install mods because a lot of the previous and meanwhile solved 'conflicts' keep showing for no good reason. And there's bound to be errors in loading with the often wrong suggestion Vortex makes. Inexperienced modders , which most still are, even myself to some degree, will surely folllow Vortex' suggestion of 'before' or 'after' and then end up in the fora with complaints this or that mod doesn't fully work or something doesn't show up despite having "tried everything"...

 

And folks suggesting (for NMM) to use the "yes to all" option when overwriting files is the worst advice to give and to follow. Granted, it can take a while when there's mods that overwrite more than a hundred files like armor mods and/or weapon mods, but when starting to know your mods you know what to choose and when to choose it in NMM. Vortex simplifies things while at the same time making it more complex. Having mods co-exist instead of overwriting one-another's files is a good thing at first sight, but I'm not so sure if it's advantageous for the game you're modding. There's a chance to end-up with a mod manager that solves conflicts but a game that cannot handle the solutions. Because in the end, it's still the game that has to load and show all the content.

 

The more I use Vortex, the more I'm thinking that the developers aren't the end users. Just like writers of manuals aren't the folk who use the product they're writing a manual for or like computer case developers aren't the ones using the PC case.

 

 

It's even made clearer in Vortex by the "Load Before" and "Load After" rule manager.

What's good about that, is if you overwrite the wrong files, then all you have to do is change LOAD BEFORE to LOAD AFTER or vice versa, and Vortex automatically restorers/overwrites the correct files, instead of having to uninstall all of the mods and install them in the correct order.

 

 

Thanks to LOAD BEFORE/LOAD AFTER I was able to ignore THESE installation Instructions

With NMM, if I didn't install the mods below EXACTLY AS INSTRUCTED, I would have the wrong Textures.

 

HGEC textures for OCOv2. Install order: 1. Body replacer, OBSE and Blockhead - 2. OCOv2 base - 3. Replacer compatibility textures. NMM recommended. Choose 'don't upgrade' on installation.

Robert's Female textures for OCOv2. Install order: 1. Body replacer, OBSE and Blockhead - 2. OCOv2 base - 3. Replacer compatibility textures. NMM recommended. Choose 'don't upgrade' on installation.

Robert's Male textures for OCOv2. Install order: 1. Body replacer, OBSE and Blockhead - 2. OCOv2 base - 3. Replacer compatibility textures. NMM recommended. Choose 'don't upgrade' on installation.

Install order is:

- OBSE

- Blockhead

- Robert's Male Body replacer (delete the .esp file here; conflicts with OCO V2)

- OCO V2

- OCO V2 body replacers patches (Roberts Male Body replacer texture compatibility addon)

- CCC (This includes the files CCC 1.8 - Eyes, CCC 1.8 - Hair Meshes 1, CCC 1.8 - Hair Meshes 2, CCC 1.8 - Hair Meshes 3, CCC 1.8 - Hair Textures. You do not need the plugins file. Readme is optional)

- This mod. (Replace the .esp file from OCO V2 with this one).

- Rebuild bashed patch (Wrye bash users only)

 

With Vortex, I was able to install the above mods, in any order, then use LOAD BEFORE/LOAD AFTER to get the exact same effect as carefully installing them in the correct order with NMM, except, without the frustration and hassle of using NMM

[JimmyRJump]

Well, your experience differs from mine. I liked that in NMM I could see which file was going to be overwritten and I could individually choose, file per file, which one to keep and which one to get overwritten. Maybe its through lack of experience with Vortex, but loading of a mod before or after another one doesn't tell me zilch about what files are being used. Sure, the last one loaded has priority over the one(s) before, but I think in pictures and I literally need to 'see' what's going on. The pieces of my puzzle will fall into place pretty soon.

 

And the frustrations and hassles of NMM heve been replaced with those of Vortex. Howz that for a change.

 

We (or at least, I) desperately need a button in Vortex to deactivate/activate ALL plugins in one go, for starters.

[HadToRegister]

Well, your experience differs from mine. I liked that in NMM I could see which file was going to be overwritten and I could individually choose, file per file, which one to keep and which one to get overwritten. Maybe its through lack of experience with Vortex, but loading of a mod before or after another one doesn't tell me zilch about what files are being used. Sure, the last one loaded has priority over the one(s) before, but I think in pictures and I literally need to 'see' what's going on. The pieces of my puzzle will fall into place pretty soon.

 

And the frustrations and hassles of NMM heve been replaced with those of Vortex. Howz that for a change.

 

We (or at least, I) desperately need a button in Vortex to deactivate/activate ALL plugins in one go, for starters.

 

CTRL+A to select ALL plugins, then click ENABLE or DISABLE in the little white bar that appears at the bottom of the PLUGINS TAB

 

 

To LOAD BEFORE/LOAD AFTER for Individual files

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Shaun0057]

its gone from good to trash slow dl, fail to login and to fix this you need to buy perm i think ... maybe that's there goal